Unrwa ban: Why the World Court is hearing another case against Israel
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) began hearings on Monday into Israel's humanitarian obligations in occupied Palestine and attacks on UN agencies.
Since March, Israel has blocked all aid from reaching Gaza and no food, water or medicines have reached its 2.3 million residents in the past eight weeks.
The case was prompted by Israel banning the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) in October, an event that sparked global outrage and calls for Israel to be ejected from the UN due to accusations that it violated the founding UN charter, particularly the privileges and immunities enjoyed by UN agencies.
Expected to be decided in late May or early June, it will be the third advisory opinion case since 2004 to be heard before the World Court in relation to Israel’s violations of international law.
Around 40 states, including Palestine, are presenting evidence before the court between 28 April and 2 May. Israel's main ally, the United States, is due to speak at the Peace Palace on Wednesday 30 April.
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"It is likely that the court will affirm that Israel has obligations to maintain Unwra operations in the territory, not to expel it," Professor Ardi Imseis, Palestine's legal representative to the court, told Middle East Eye after Monday's proceedings.
"Israel has been destroying with reckless abandon UN property, killing UN staff members. All of that property is absolutely immune from any form of interference by anyone at any time, no matter who holds the property right," he added.
Middle East Eye spoke to Ammar Hijazi, the Palestinian representative to international organisations in The Hague, who strongly criticised Israel's actions as an illegal occupying power, asserting that Israel's violations of international law must have consequences pic.twitter.com/HAWLQcb7Xc
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) April 28, 2025
Professor Eirik Bjorge, an international law academic who led calls for the advisory opinion back in October, said that the majority of states are of the opinion that Israel's actions towards Unrwa are unlawful.
"A very great number of participating states maintain that Israel has the obligation under the UN Charter to give Unrwa every assistance and that it has an absolute obligation to respect its privileges and immunities," Bjorge told MEE.
"A small gallery of rogues - Israel itself, Hungary and the United States - argue against this majority position," he explained.
The US Department of Justice on Thursday decided that Unrwa was not immune from legal action in the US, a position it may reiterate in this week's hearings, Bjorge said, describing it as "a perfectly hopeless position".
Unrwa is the primary source of humanitarian support for an estimated 5.9 million Palestinian refugees in occupied Palestine and neighbouring countries hosting Palestinian refugees.
This includes the provision of basic services such as education, food, medical care and the distribution of fuel. Its closure may lead to the collapse of the primary lifeline for Palestinians.
According to the organisation's latest situation report, since October 2023, Israel has killed at least 290 Unrwa staff members and carried out at least 830 attacks on Unrwa premises and people sheltering in them.
What is the court asked to rule on?
The hearings follow the resolution of the UN General Assembly on 29 December 2024 (A/RES/79/232), mainly lobbied for by Norway, requesting the court to give an advisory opinion on the following questions:
“What are the obligations of Israel, as an occupying Power and as a member of the United Nations, in relation to the presence and activities of the United Nations, including its agencies and bodies, other international organisations and third States, in and in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including to ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival of the Palestinian civilian population as well as of basic services and humanitarian and development assistance, for the benefit of the Palestinian civilian population, and in support of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination?”
The General Assembly's request invited the court to rule on the above question in relation to a number of legal sources, including: the UN Charter, international humanitarian law, international human rights law, privileges and immunities of international organisations and states under international law, relevant resolutions of the Security Council, the General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council, as well as the previous advisory opinions of the court: the opinion of 9 July 2004 which declared Israel's separation wall in occupied Palestine illegal, and the 19 July 2024 advisory opinion, which confirmed the illegality of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory and Israel's obligation as an occupying power to uphold the rights of Palestinians.
Advisory opinions, though theoretically not binding orders, are highly authoritative among states and the court's interpretation of a legal question is considered binding as a matter of general international law, Imseis told MEE.
How did Israel ban Unrwa?
Israel's parliament, the Knesset, passed two laws in October 2024 banning Unrwa from operating inside Israel and occupied Palestine.
The bills came shortly after Israeli authorities confiscated the land in occupied East Jerusalem where Unrwa headquarters are located. Israel plans to build 1,440 settlement units, which are illegal under international law, on the site.
The laws effectively ban Unrwa from operating inside Israel, Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. The ban would amount to a revocation of privileges and immunities enjoyed by UN organisations under the UN Charter. The ban came into effect in January.
'It is the obligation of the State of Israel as an occupying power to provide services or facilitate the delivery of such services, including through Unrwa, to the population it is occupying'
- Juliette Touma, Unwra
The first law says that Unrwa is not allowed to "operate any institution, provide any service, or conduct any activity, whether directly or indirectly", in Israel.
The second law prohibits Israeli government officials and agencies from contact with Unrwa.
This will inevitably affect the privileges and immunities to which Unrwa is entitled under international law.
Unrwa’s communication director Juliette Touma welcomed the ICJ hearings, saying Israel’s ban on the organisation has hindered its ability to carry out its mandate.
“Since these restrictions came into effect at the end of January, Unrwa international staff have not received visas to enter Israel and are effectively banned from access to the occupied West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip,” Touma told MEE.
She added that several Unrwa facilities, including schools in occupied East Jerusalem, continue to be threatened by Israeli orders demanding their closure.
Some 800 children who currently go to Unrwa schools in that area are likely to be without education if Israel closes these schools, she said.
The no contact policy imposed by the bills, which bans Israeli officials from coordinating or communicating with Unrwa officials, obstructs the delivery of essential relief services and aid, Touma explained.
“Unrwa is a UN agency that provides human development services to one of the most vulnerable communities in the region,” she said. “It is the obligation of the State of Israel as an occupying power to provide services or facilitate the delivery of such services, including through Unrwa, to the population it is occupying.”
Why did Israel ban Unrwa?
Israel's government has long been hostile towards Unrwa, partially because it upholds the refugee status of Palestinians who were expelled from their homes in the 1948 Nakba and their descendants.
In late January 2024, Israel accused 12 Unrwa workers of involvement in the 7 October Hamas-led attacks, alleging they had distributed ammunition and aided in civilian kidnappings.
A UN inquiry published in April last year found no evidence of wrongdoing by Unrwa staff, noting that Israel had neither responded to requests for names and information nor "informed Unrwa of any concrete concerns relating to Unrwa staff since 2011".
Ardi Imseis, who spoke before the court on 28 April on behalf of Palestine to discuss Israel's obligations towards Unrwa, said that Israel's obstruction of the agency's work has short-term and long-term objectives.
"At the very least, in the short term Israel is pursuing the erasure of the Palestinian people in Gaza, and ultimately in the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories, including through forcible transfer," he said, citing the forced displacement of some 1.9 million Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023 and Israeli officials' public statements declaring the intention to prevent the displaced from returning.
"Quite simply, Unrwa is the last hope that the Palestinian people, particularly in the Gaza Strip, have of surviving Israel’s genocide against them," he told the court.
"More broadly, Israel’s long-term purpose behind destroying Unrwa rests in its complete denial of the existence of the Palestinian people, and in particular the status, rights and claims of millions of Palestine refugees to return, to restitution and to compensation," said Imseis. "But you need not take my word for it. The prime minister of Israel has openly admitted as much on multiple occasions, including - it must be stressed - years before 7 October 2023."
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